Michelle Wie needs to accept LPGA Kraft Nabisco invite
Finally Michelle Wie receives an invitation to a tournament in which she might not only make the cut but also win! Why hasn’t Wie hurriedly accepted the tournament’s sponsor invitation into the first major of 2007?
Is “The Big Wiesy” getting too big for her britches? Now that she’s a consummate professional making cuts left and right on the PGA Tour, she wouldn’t be thumbing her nose at the LPGA Tour, now would she?
Naturally, the Kraft Nabisco Championship could use Wie for a ratings boost but Michelle can also use this LPGA major to finally come out of her slump and win her first professional event!
Michelle Wie runs on “almosts"…she almost came from behind last year to win the Kraft Nabisco but her eagle try ran past the hole and her putt for a playoff was off the mark. Perhaps the fifth time is the charm?
Then there’s also the Rolex World Rankings to consider. With the rankings changing every week, Wie dropped two spots and Annika Sorenstam is still the top banana. I’m surprised that Ochoa has not displaced Sorenstam with her stellar performance of 2006 but, in my opinion, the Rolex rankings could still use some tweaking. A fixed point distribution on all events, not just the majors, might make standings more accurate as opposed to the idea that points should be awarded by the strength of the field.
Let’s face it. Michelle Wie needs this entry not only to satisfy her adoring fans and the advertisers who spent a boatload of money believing that she was the next Tiger Woods but she also needs to win for her own self satisfaction.
Winning will come about much more easily once Wie hoists her first professional trophy. Wouldn’t it be great for it to be a major victory?
32 comments
You golf knowledge was questionable, but then you made a statements:
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I'm surprised that Ochoa has not displaced Sorenstam with her stellar performance of 2006 but, in my opinion, the Rolex rankings could still use some tweaking. A fixed point distribution on all events, not just the majors, might make standings more accurate as opposed to the idea that points should be awarded by the strength of the field.
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That's just dreadful. Have little events with weak fields earning the same points as majors do. That's just ridiculous.
Of course you only want to try to get Lorena as number 1, any way that could happen, but get real about it.
If Lorena got to number 1 without winning a major, it wouldn't be respected as much as if she won a major.
Michelle may not play in the SBS, but I suspect she will be in the media tent along with Ms. Bivens.
What is truly interesting about your predictions and our wager is that at the time they seemed quite tame. There were many Wie fans who all but guarenteed that these paltry goals would be met and exceeded. If you remeber there were many Wie Warriors on this site who thought she would be dominating the women's game by now and not only making cuts, but actually contending in men's tournaments. In fact by betting against these modest goals I was in the clear minority. It's funny how a far a little common sense and patience will take you in life. The flavor of the month is just that...
He was already 16 when he started. Michelle was 14.
Tigers first 7 starts
Nissan '92 72,75 CUT
Nissan '93 74,78 CUT
Honda '93 72,78 CUT
Nelson '93 77,72 CUT
Nestle '94 80,77 CUT
Buick '94 75,70 CUT
Western '94 74,75 CUT
Masters '95 72,72,77,72 at last
US Open '95 74,85 WD due to wrist injury
Michelle
Sony '05 75,74 CUT
Deere '05 70,71 CUT
Sony '06 79,68 CUT
Deere '06 77,37 WD
Lumber'06 77,81 CUT
Sony '07 78,76 CUT
Note that Tiger withdrew from US Open in 95 due to a wrist injury.
Michelle is withdrawing from Fields '07 on LPGA due to wrist injury.
What ever happened to, "It's not whether you win or loose but how you play the game?
I say, Keep going Michelle.
If I were BJ, I would say "Thank's for the travel and fun and home in the desert. I would have been happy with your acceptance to Stanford."
Tiger had won and was winning a gazillion amatuer events before he started on the PGA Tour, so what happened when he made the great transition with all of those victories under his belt. Winning may beget more winning, but it didn't in Tiger's early PGA career. The courses are setup totally differently and the prize money is a whole lot different.
Every few blogs someone brings up this comparision, completely leaving out the obvious differences between the two golfers in both mental and physical makeup. The fact remains that this comparison is childish at best. There are literally thousands of golfers who began their careers with multiple missed cuts, but guess what, they continued to miss cuts and never amounted to anything--This is the more likely scenario for Ms. Wie.
"It's not whether you win or loose but how you play the game?"
This isn't the third grade anymore--Grow up, professionals, such as Michelle should be playing to win, not for moral victories. Michelle and her fans need to face the reality that she is just another good female golfer, nothing more nothing less.
"Never give up, never give in, and when the upper hand is ours, may we have the ability to handle the win with the dignity that we absorbed the loss."
Did Bubbles ever win ANY amateur men's event, let alone dominate the category? In other words, in the case of Woods, you can say that if he didn't deserve exemptions, no one did. With Bubbles, if she deserves them, most everyone does.
I'll also add that Hank forgot to mention the four developmental tour events that Bubbles didn't make the cut in.
Please, this fawning is getting so old -- Yaaaaaaaaaaawn . . . .
All you grown folks yapping about the littlest details of Wie makes me want to hurl. She wouldn't be news anymore if there weren't so many fans obsessing over her. And those of you hating on her are fans too, because you won't shut up about it. Put her in storage until she DOES SOMETHING.
This is like the papparazzi (sp) and the celebrities. They do not neccessarily get alone, but the papparazzi need the celebs to survive and make a living.
Advice for you: Don't bite the hand that feed you.
For people who do not like Wie: There's nothing you could do to change the mind of the Wie-warriors, just let them discover it for themselves whether Wie is for real or not. Heck, there are still lots of people who believe in 'scriptures' written thousands of years ago while there is no proof of them being handed down from the divine being. So what if some people decide to treat Wie like the second coming of Tiger Woods? They are not hurting people and they are not colonizing other countries to jam their belief down the non-believers' throats.
Michelle may not play in the SBS, but I suspect she will be in the media tent along with Ms. Bivens.
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What's that suppost to mean?
You know as little about writing style and method of expression as you do about golf.
If you had paid any attention, you'd have realized that my wife and I were on vacation in Aruba, and had returned only last evening, 1Feb2007.
Ford is correct, as usual, in his assumptions about Bubbles, but he and I are two different individuals, I can assure you. Believe it or not, there is more than one person on this planet who knows that Bubbles is a work in progress at best. Ford and I are just two of them.
Although your style is reminiscent of the erstwhile Alan for whom the cup is named, I would never accuse you and Alan of being one and the same.
Since you believe that Bubbles actually has a legitimate injury, these are some of the fantasies to which you give credence.
You believe that Bubbles injured her wrist at the Samsung close to four months ago so severely that she may now be forced to forego one of her numerous sponsors' exemptions. BUT, she wasn't hurt enough to withdraw from the Sony.
You are sure that she was really injured at the Samsung, BUT that she wasn't so bad that she couldn't go to Florida over Christmas to work diligently with Leadbetter on her swing.
And that despite being the greatest prospect in the history of the sport, wealthy beyond imagination, having use of a private jet, a personal trainer, a slew of agents, a doting stage father, and a private doctor, NOBODY knew of the severity of her "injury" or how it would adversely affect her game.
Come on, Stanley, get realistic!
If you believe all this creativity, maybe you are the reincarnation of Alan.
Bubbles may have several compound fractures and severe internal injuries from her escapade at the Samsung, for all I know.
But don't you think it's a trifle odd that NONE of her entourage knew of the alleged injury , its severity, or the impact it would have on her game until after her flop at the Sony?
Don't you think that a genius like her mentor, Leadbelly, would have recognized such a severe injury and would have refrained from working Lardbutt so hard and aggravating it?
One-Putt, since you seem to have an inside track to the machinations of Bubbles' machine, these are a few questions that I, as a skeptic would like answered. Inquiring minds want to know.
Where can we find data to compare the mental and physical attributes of the players? Which attributes would we consider as assets and which as liabilities on a PGA-Tour event? What are the defining attributes to compare between say Ben Curtis, John Daly, Frank Wier and Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia and Guy Boros? Some are tall, some are heavy, some are short, some swear, some drink, some are quite, some are loud, some hit long, some hit short. Yet they have all been winners at some time, some where.
But I'm not reading about anyone suggesting that they go back to the Nationwide tour and learn to win again. How about Goydos at Sony, wasn't it great that he finally won again after what was it, 258 tries.
As for professionals playing to win. If by that you mean making money, then Michelle ain't doing bad. Of course we don't make a big deal of Tigers making about 90% of his $98 million off the course. If we did that then we would have to admit that Michelle is doin good.
Stacey, I agree with Never give up, never give in etal..
Thanks Stanley
For your information, the meaning of winning in the game of golf as far as a stroke play event is concerned, is finishing four rounds in fewer shots than any other player.
Wherever did you get the notion to equate making money with winning? Bubbles makes more money than Annika, for gosh sake!
Obviously Annika is still number 1. They cover a 2 year period. Even with fewer points for 2005, the spectacular year Annika had puts her ahead of Lorena.
My thing on money was in response to Ford's comment that professionals weren't playing for moral victory. I summized that he thinks Michelle should be playing seriously for something. I say she is winning making money and bringing fans in.
Just to cause angst! How many professionals withdrew from this weeks FBR, and can you name them. The press reports on what they think is interesting and brings in bucks. If Wie had withdrawn, we would all know about it.
Comment from One-Putt:
Michelle may not play in the SBS, but I suspect she will be in the media tent along with Ms. Bivens.
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What's that suppost to mean?"
I suspect Ms. Wie and Ms. Bivens will announce that Michelle has joined the LPGA Tour at the SBS in Hawaii. This is the first big media opportunity of the season that will provide worldwide publicity for the LPGA Tour and Ms. Wie.
I base this assumption on the shroud of silence surrounding the Wie Camp and LPGA HQ concerning Michelle's 2007 schedule as evidenced by the lack of any announcement from WM on her acceptance of the Kraft invite. WM would not allow this much time to pass without publicity for their client unless something was up.
I may be wrong, but the signs all point in the direction of Michelle holding a LPGA Exempt Card this year.
When you used the word(?) "summized", did you mean summarized or surmised, or is your word an amalgam of both?
Seriously, if you consider making money (notice I didn't say earning money) the same thing as winning, then Bubbles had a far better year than Annika, Lorena, Karrie, or Juli, and much better than about 90% of the PGA touring pros, including winners on that circuit
She didn't have a better year than Angelina Jolie, Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, or Bill Gates.
Hi Alex,
My thing on money was in response to Ford's comment that professionals weren't playing for moral victory. I summized that he thinks Michelle should be playing seriously for something. I say she is winning making money and bringing fans in.
Just to cause angst! How many professionals withdrew from this weeks FBR, and can you name them. The press reports on what they think is interesting and brings in bucks. If Wie had withdrawn, we would all know about it."
Good points Hank, yet they have been made over and over again to the Wie critics without any attempt at understanding on their part.
The critics have set the standards higher for Miss Wie than any other golfer in history male or female. When her age is mentioned they try to dismiss the fact she is a high school student who has garnered some impressive results for a teenager of either sex.
The way to deal with the critics Hank (who are only in the game to make glib remarks or correct the grammar or spelling of a post), is simply to ignore them. They can be compared to a rash; if you scratch them they will spread and become infected making matters worse.
Bubbles' critics and skeptics haven't set the bar too high for Lard.
You and the rest of the Wie Warriors have been confidently predicting for what are now years that your darling was right on the verge of booming out.
It looks light the only things she'll be busting out if soon are her skin tight and now too small jeans.
Maybe Bubbles can enter that July 4th hotdog eating contest.
If you believe that Bubbles will qualify for a pro event, would you kindly describe when and how this will take place?
I assume you are referring to pro golf. If she continues to receive the maximum number of exemptions allowed, and she doesn't become an LPGA member, there will be no reason for her to qualify.
She will only attempt to qualify if she has no other choice.
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